Delta Raises Domestic Airfares: Source

There's a new airfare increase underway with Delta Air Lines raising some round-trip domestic fares by $10 to $20 roundtrip, according to an industry website.

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Delta Airlines

Katrina Witherspoon, a spokeswoman for FareCompare.com, advised MSNBC.com via email on Tuesday that airfares purchased within seven days of travel have increased effective immediately. FareCompare.com is an industry expert on fare hikes.

"Typically, airfare purchased inside of a 7-day window to departure is purchased only by business travelers and not usually leisure flyers," she wrote.

The peak summer travel season is quickly approaching and while this latest increase is focused on road warriors, airfares are likely to continue to rise if other airlines match Delta's latest hike.

A Delta spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Delta already had raised airfares three times this year. Witherspoon said the final outcome of the latest fare hike will be known by Thursday, MSNBC.com reports. If competing airlines don't match the increase within a day or two, the airline attempting the fare hike will generally bring fares back down.

The last round of fare increases was in March, when legacy and low-cost carriers agreed to an increase of up to $10 on roundtrip flights.

In a March 27 e-mail, Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, said fare prices jumped twice during the second quarter of 2011, MSNBC.com reported. “I expect to see something similar this year as we head into the historically busy summer travel season which is likely to be much busier this year," said Seaney in the e-mail.